After my death our beloved Church abroad will break three ways ... first the Greeks will leave us as they were never a part of us ... then those who live for this world and its glory will go to Moscow ... what will remain will be those souls faithful to Christ and His Church.~St. Philaret of NY

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Psalm 118: A Commentary by St. Theophan the Recluse

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...Everyone should read this book. Well suited as well for non-Orthodox, and even non-Christians.

“Therefore he who studies the law of the Lord day and night is like the tree which is planted by the streams of the waters, which shall bring forth its fruit in its season (Ps 1:3). Scripture knows nothing of scholarly research with the goal of barren knowledge: All its talk is about life and its arrangement. Scholarly research is begotten by a lack of concern for life, in order to cover up its empty idleness by this outward appearance.” [verse 129]

“There is a joy in the Lord, and there is sorrow in God; and there are joy and grief that are false. There is a fear of God and a hope that are to salvation; and there are unwarranted fears and deceptive hopes.” [verse 2]

Psalm 118: A Commentary by St. Theophan the Recluse.

Translated from the Russian by Archpriest Gleb Wleskov; translation edited by Seraphim Englehardt. After nearly 30 years of engagement with this text, we are delighted at long last to make it available to the faithful in permanent library form. Each reading (and there have been many) has deepened our appreciation of the profundity of the commentary, which never succumbs to the temptation of mere academicism. It is a book which can be read from beginning to end -- or from any random point -- with equal benefit. Deluxe edition: silver binding, gold-stamped, gilded edges, marker ribbon.

The one hundred and eighteenth psalm differs from the other psalms by many obvious features which even from the first glance cannot go unnoticed — the number of verses is self-evident; this psalm comprises an entire kathisma in our Psalter. Reading it through attentively, one cannot but notice its other peculiarity: each of its 176 verses says something about the law of God, only calling it by different names. Either of these might not be so important, except that one can only marvel that, in so many verses concerning one and the same subject — as people who study the Scriptures extensively have observed — there are no weak statements and no identical repetitions. There are similar verses, but they differ in their descriptions of varying aspects of the divine law or shades of those aspects. Similarly, some unpretentious pronouncements, when examined carefully, give the eyes of the mind an insight into the depths of divine law-giving.

There is another peculiarity in this psalm, not noticeable in the Greek, Slavonic, or other translations, but is immediately evident in the original Hebrew. This psalm is constructed as an alphabetical acrostic. It is not, however, that each verse begins with a new letter of the alphabet, following the preceding. Rather, eight consecutive verses form an octave, each verse beginning with one and the same letter. The following octave then has its verses beginning with the subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Since the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, this makes 22 groups of eight verses, 22 octaves —— 176 verses, the number of verses in this psalm.

This last feature points to a solution to the question concerning the origin and intent of this psalm. One interpreter mentions the opinion of Hebrew scholars that the holy prophet David, preparing his son Solomon to succeed him, arranged this psalm to teach him the law of God and the art of prayer. Zigabenos, a Greek commentator, cites Origen's information that the Hebrews had their children memorize this psalm along with the alphabet.

Putting this together, we may assume that the prophet David at the end of his days, having passed through so many and varied experiences in his life, of which not one occurred without a direct relationship to God and His law, having judiciously passed through all moral and religious conditions and having comprehended all of them in the light of the face of God, conceived the good thought of passing on to his son Solomon all of his spiritual experience. But he did this having in mind not only the children of the fathers of his own time. but of all generations to come.

Blessed Theodoret wrote the following about this psalm: “The divine David passed through many different changes in his life. He both had to flee from his enemies, and made his enemies flee. He fell into misfortunes and knew happy days. He followed the divine path, stumbled on his way, and again followed the divine laws. He gathered all of these experience into this one psalm. And all the prayers he offered to God in various circumstances were assembled in one harmonious composition, offering to men of all times a teaching on how to succeed in leading a virtuous life."

We hasten, however, to caution against a possible idea: “This psalm may be for children’s reading and learning; why should we adults, especially learned ones, bother with it?" True, this psalm was taught in childhood, but it gave guidance for a whole life. Memorized once and for all, it served not only as guidance, but as a subject for constant reflection and a means for constant immersion in the mysteries of God's lawgiving.

The utterances of this psalm are simple in form, but not in content. Begin to look into it carefully, and you will always find in it a new, instructive approach, inviting you to follow along the paths of God.

Blessed Augustine wrote that for a long time he was unable to start his commentary on this psalm, being overwhelmed by its depth. “How often," said he, “was I asked to give its interpretation, but when I was ready to begin, I backed off, realizing that it was above my strength. For the simpler this psalm would seem to be, the deeper it actually turns out to be, and I am unable to say how profound it is. Other psalms have dark spots; this one is so clear that all one has to do is to read or listen; there is nothing to interpret. And yet, getting ready to comment on it, I cannot say I will be able to do anything even now.”

After this, there can be no doubt that, even if learned persons take a verse of this psalm and meditate on it, it will be very much like digging earth where a treasure is hidden. Just dig and you will find. No matter what his spiritual age, anyone will find something needful and beneficial.

Blessed Theodoret concludes his reflections on this psalm thus: “This psalm is sufficient to perfect those who seek absolute virtue, to bring those who live absentmindedly to be attentive to themselves, to inspire those whose spirit has fallen, to reform the careless — in a word, it gives the right medicine for all human weakness.”

St. Athanasios the Great, bypassing all the external implications to this psalm, looks at it with the eyes of an anchorite: “In this psalm the holy prophet describes the lives of the saints, their podvigs, their sorrows and hardships, the attacks of the demons, and thousands of their mental suggestions, nets. and other means of capture. But at the same time, it shows what makes the saints victorious: the law, the word of God, patience, help from above — and finally, what follows hard work: rewards, crowns and recompense."

St. Ambrose writes: “Other psalms contain moral issues, but they are like stars spread out in the sky; this one is like the sun, abundantly pouring forth its light at high noon."

Such richness of this psalm has disposed us to devote ample time to reflection on it and to offer whatever God will send us to the attention of God-Fearing and fervent Christians, zealous for their salvation, confident that it will be of some use.

The holy Church obviously wanted us to know this psalm better and understand it more deeply when it established its reading at the daily midnight service, when our mind, refreshed by sleep, is more apt to understand with greater clarity and penetrate more deeply.

Offering our reflections, we feel obligated to say that there will be little of our own. All will be borrowed from the holy fathers and teachers of the Church, who toiled in the interpretation of this psalm. St. Ambrose devoted an entire book to it; Blessed Augustine preached a series of sermons on it. St. Athanasios the Great, Blessed Theodoret and St. Hilary have commented on it along with their commentaries on all the psalms. In addition, our counsellors will be Euthymios, Zigabenos and Anthimos, the most blessed patriarch of Jerusalem.

In our presentation. we will preserve the division into octaves, following St. Ambrose and the most blessed Anthimos, although this is absent in the Slavonic and Greek texts, especially since it is not simply an external division to facilitate reading and support attention and interest without influence on the contents. We thought at first that the verses of each octave did not form a unity, but a more attentive reading showed each octave to have a guiding thought, upon which the verses are threaded like pearls on a string. Both the commentary itself and reflection on it will show how true this is.

What is the general form of the sayings in this psalm? They are not proverbs, but prayerful appeals to God. Each verse is a prayer, and always about one and the same subject: the fulfillment of the Lords law. Aware that salvation is only from God through performance of His holy will, a soul converses with God, entreating Him to enlighten, to bring understanding. to strengthen, to deliver from internal temptations and external troubles, to restore from falls, and to deliver from enemies — in short, to grant it, through His kindness, to please Him. The speech is always warm, addressed to God, straight from the heart.

One more consideration: God's will, mandatory for us, is expressed by more than one word. Besides the usual expressions of law and commandments, we encounter such words as testimonies, statues, words, judgments of Thy righteousness, the way, the way of truth, the way of Thy commandments, the way of Thy precepts, path of the commandments, counsels, and others. Each of these names stands for the same will of God, concerning how we should live, or the same law – but in its varied applications. If any of these designations should provide a shade to a thought within a saying, this will be mentioned at the appropriate place.

1 comment:

Liturgics question:Who (and when) is the author /composer of the Lamentations? I'm still ascribing it to totally Angelic origen, because of the way it weaves in and out, and contrasts and complements Psalm 118 is so sublime and profound.

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THE SISTER CHURCHES

The True Orthodox Churches of Romania, and Bulgaria, and with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and with the Synod in Resistance, are called by the Grace of the Lord to coexist in Mysteriological communion.

from §4 of “Schedule of Steps in the Union Process” Feb. 2014

VL AGAFANGEL PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Theotokos and all the Saints: keep our souls unharmed from the destructive influences of globalism, ecumenism, and sergianism, and give all of us the strength to endure the latest onset of persecution of the Church of Christ. Amen

QUOTE

"I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you... I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.”

St. John Chrysostom

QUOTE

"If we have a good priest (or bishop), we give thanks to God. If a bad one, we endure him".

- old Russian saying

QUOTE

"And here is something to which I would like to draw your attention to – something about which very many do not think about. Father Archimandrite Constantine, whom probably many of you know, the reposed editor of the journal “Orthodox Rus’”, a profound Christian mind, considered that the most terrible among all the achievements of the communists was that the communists created their own false-church, a soviet church which they shoved onto the unfortunate people in place of the genuine Church which went underground into the catacombs. Do not think that I am exaggerating or that Father Constantine was exaggerating!

Once, in the year 1918, a Pan-Russian Church Council was held. At this Council, the entire Pan-Russian Church together with its first holy hierarch, Patriarch Tikhon anathematized, excommunicated from the Church not only the theomachists and godless ones themselves, but also all those who would collaborate with them."

~St. Philaret of NY

QUOTE

"To the Russians abroad, it has been granted to shine in the whole world with the light of Orthodoxy, so that other peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves. But if it does not perform this purpose and even abases Orthodoxy by its life, the Diaspora will have before itself two paths: either to be converted to the path of repentance, having acquired forgiveness through prayer to God and being reborn spiritually and to being capable of giving rebirth to our suffering homeland; or else being rejected by God and remaining in banishment, persecuted by everyone, until gradually it will degenerate and disappear from the face of the earth."

from Vladika John's report to the All-Diaspora Sobor in 1938

QUOTE

The apostasy of our times, to a degree unique in Christian history, is proceeding not primarily by false teachings or canonical deviations, but rather by a false understanding of Orthodoxy on the part of those who may even be perfectly Orthodox in their dogmatic teaching and canonical situation. A correct "Orthodoxy" deprived of the Spirit of true Christianity—this is the meaning of Sergianism, and it cannot be fought by calling it a "heresy," which it is not, nor by detailing its canonical irregularities, which are only incidental to something much more important.

- Russia's Catacomb Saints

QUOTE

Let it not be thought, however, that I affirm that it is necessary to prize every peace. For I know that there is a splendid disagreement and the most destructive unanimity. Yet one must love a good peace which has a good purpose: unity with God.

-St. Gregory the Theologian

QUOTE

... To pious Christians the fact that the world has fallen into godlessness is to them obvious, and they are ready to see it as an unfortunate historical inevitability ...

Professor Viktor Trostinkov

QUOTE

If you want to have assurance that you are saved, repent now that you are young and healthy and it is manifest that you left sin while you were still able to sin. But if you persevere in sin into your old age, why then you did not leave sin, but rather sin left you.

St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

QUOTE

Live in peace not only with your friends, but also with your enemies; but only your personal enemies, and not the enemies of God.

St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves

QUOTE

Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgment.

St. John 7:24

QUOTE

"If Russia is not ressurrected, a new Golgotha threatens the whole world."

Priest Vladimir Evsukoff 1980†

QUOTE

A man who does not express a desire to link himself to the latest of the saints (in time) in all love and humility owing to a certain distrust in himself, will never be linked to the preceding saints and will not be admitted to their succession, even though he thinks he possesses all possible faith and love for God and for all His saints. He will be cast out of their midst, as one who refused to take humbly the place allotted to him by God before all time, and to link himself to that latest saint (in time) as God had disposed.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

QUOTE

SCOBA, to which world orthodoxy gives such great significance, reproaching us for not belonging to it, actually is in no way a canonical organ. The Russian Church Outside of Russia was invited to take part in these conferences; however, our Church refused to send representatives there after clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate were invited. "We never and nowhere will sit at one table with them; by this our spiritual communion with the Universal Church is not broken."

Archpriest George Grabbe 1969

QUOTE

"Let us always thank the Lord that we are in the Holy Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which throughout the 80 years of its existence has trodden the straight, royal path of God, without ever turning aside and losing its way."

QUOTE

The passions lying hidden in the soul provide the demons with the means of arousing impassioned thoughts in us. Then, fighting the intellect through these thoughts, they force it to give its assent to sin. When it has been overcome, they lead it to sin in the mind; and when this has been done they induce it, captive as it is, to commit the sin in action. Having thus desolated the soul by means of these thoughts, the demons then retreat, taking the thoughts with them, and only the spectre or idol of sin remains in the intellect. Referring to this our Lord says, 'When you see the abominable idol of desolation standing in the holy place (let him who reads understand)... (Matt 24:15). For man's intellect is a holy place and a temple of God in which the demons, having desolated the soul by impassioned thoughts, set up the idol of sin. That these things have already taken place in history no one, I think, who has read Josephus will doubt; though some say that they will also come to pass in the time of the Antichrist.

Philokalia

QUOTE

There are three things that impel us towards what is holy: natural instincts, angelic powers, and probity of intention. Natural instincts impel us, when, for example, we do to others what we would wish them to do to us (cf. Luke 6:31), or when we see someone suffering deprivation or in need and naturally feel compassion. Angelic powers impel us when, being ourselves impelled to something worthwhile, we find we are providentially helped and guided. We are impelled by probity of intention when, discriminating between good and evil, we choose the good.

Philokalia

QUOTE

The outward Gospel of social idealism is a symptom of loss of faith.

Fr. Seraphim Rose

QUOTE

Impurity of intellect consists first in having false knowledge, ...

Philokalia

QUOTE

Isn't Marx really the third of a trio with Darwin and Freud as a practical source in the war against revealed truth?

Fr. Seraphim Rose

Letters, 1972

QUOTE

QUOTE

To: ROCA members from the MP

"You have to understand that you have long been in a false church, which implants in its members' souls, a false spirituality, which in turn takes root and grows stronger and stronger, the longer a man stays in it."

Bishop Athanasius, 2014

QUOTE

Mankind has gone mad, and we see with horror the abyss into which it is being drawn. Let us lay aside every worldly care, and let us fall down in prayer and readiness for the dread Judgment of the Lord. Death will not come with bombs and poisons. Death has already come and take up residence with us and in us, and has made corpses of us, Mammon has overwhelmed this sinful world, which is dominated by Queen Science, Lucifer himself, which with one hand makes medicines and machines for man's foolish happiness and with the other terrorizes him by means of the bomb! Such is the sorry state of knowledge and the agony of the world through and through. Let us lift up our hearts.

-Photios Kontoglou (†1965) letter to Dr. Cavarnos dated 5/10/57

QUOTE

"Psychopaths are a superior subspecies. We transcend humanity. We are Nature's Supermen. We deserve the subservience and availability of everyone around us. Luckily, every year 100-million people are born throughout the world. We have 100-million new choices every year."

-Sam Vaknin, self-realized psychopath

QUOTE

Our Saviour placed the Church in the world in order to save the world, and Satan is always trying to place the world into the Church in order to destroy the Church.

attributed to Desert Fathers

QUOTE

"If you see lying and hypocrisy, expose them in front of all, even if they are clothed inpurple and fine linen."

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